It is useful, and in many locales a building code requirement, that the attic area of a building be provided with a means to permit air exchange. Such ventilation prevents undue heat buildup, which can render the living quarters of the building uncomfortable and impose unreasonable energy requirements for cooling. Proper ventilation of the attic area also tends to preserve the structural integrity of the roof and roof coverings. One method of venting the roof structure consists of applying a venting media over a slot present along the ridge of a roof. These types of vents are known as ridge vents.
An example of a roof ridge vent is provided by U.S. Pat. No. 5,960,595 issued to McCorsley et al. and co-owned by the assignee of the present application. The '595 patent discloses a roof ridge vent comprising a continuous, indeterminate-length, roll-form, openwork web, or mat, of randomly convoluted polymeric filaments. The mat is capable of being rolled lengthwise in a spiral roll after or during manufacture and unrolled lengthwise during installation on the roof ridge. A plurality of cusps, or hollow spacer elements, project from the upper face of the mat so that, when the apex portions of the cusps confront the roof surface, the upper face of the mat is spaced from the roof surface thereby creating a path for air flow between the shingles overlying the upper face of the vent and the underlying roof. A continuous air permeable fabric backing is thermally bonded to the cusps of the mat to prevent weather and insect infiltration into the attic space.
Other rollable ventilation products are known. U.S. Pat. No. 5,673,521 which issued to Coulton et al. and which is owned by the assignee of the present application discloses a roof ridge vent comprising a continuous, indeterminate-length, single sheet, roll-formed web of thermoformable material. U.S. Pat. No. 4,942,699, which issued to Spinelli and which is owned by the assignee of the present application, and the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 5 of U.S. Pat. No. 5,425,672, which issued to Rotter, disclose indeterminate-length, roll-form ventilation products made of matting material which are installed overlying roof ridges and which support a row of overlying cap shingles.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,651,734 issued to Morris discloses a roll-form roof ridge ventilator made of a longitudinal blank of scored corrugated plastic sheet material. The vent is installed by unrolling the sheet material on a roof, folding the vent upon itself at scored lines, and securing the folded sections of the vent to the roof ridge. The embodiment illustrated in FIG. 12 of U.S. Pat. No. 3,660,955 issued to Simon discloses an indeterminate-length, roll-form web of plastic sheet material which has a plurality of spacer elements and which is unrolled and installed between rows of overlapping shingles to provide air passageways therebetween.
Roll-form roof ridge vents provide many advantages relative to non-roll-form, sectional roof ridge vent products. Roll-form vents are less costly to manufacture, facilitate efficient storage and transportation, and involve less labor costs to install. The roll form vents are installed as a continuous vent structure along the entire length of the roof ridge; while, sectional vents may require four or more separate sections to be installed in an end-to-end overlapping relation. Examples of sectional roof ridge vents are provided by U.S. Pat. Nos.: U.S. Pat. No. 1,717,728 issued to Moore; U.S. Pat. No. 2,200,031 issued to Lee; U.S. Pat. No. 2,214,183 issued to Seymour; U.S. Pat. No. 2,704,500 issued to Bonforte; U.S. Pat. No. 2,868,104 issued to Honholt et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 2,799,214 issued to Roose; U.S. Pat. No. 3,185,070 issued to Smith; U.S. Pat. No. 3,236,170 issued to Meyer et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 3,311,047 issued to Smith et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 3,481,263 issued to Belden; U.S. Pat. No. 3,949,657 issued to Sells; U.S. Pat. No. 4,280,399 issued to Cunning; U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,325,290, 4,554,862 and 5,122,095 issued to Wolfert; U.S. Pat. No. 4,876,950 issued to Rudeen; U.S. Pat. No. 4,903,445 issued to Mankowski; U.S. Pat. No. 4,957,037 issued to Tubbesing et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,962,692 issued to Shuert; U.S. Pat. No. 5,094,041 issued to Kasner et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,167,579 issued to Rotter; U.S. Pat. No. 5,174,076 issued to Schiedegger et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,288,269 issued to Hansen.
In some situations, known roll-form roof ridge vents, specifically those made of an openwork mat, cannot be installed properly with the use of standard pneumatic nail guns used by roofers. The force of a nail fired by a standard roofing nail gun can cause the mat to compress adjacent the nail location. This reduces ventilation air flow and provides an uneven upper vent surface causing a displeasing aesthetic effect. In addition, if a nail used to secure an overlying cap shingle is driven into a hollow portion of a cusp of the mat, the nail head can be driven entirely through the upper face of the mat. In the latter situation, a piece of the overlying cap shingle can break off and be driven with the nail head deep into the vent creating a path for weather and insect infiltration.
Therefore, while the roll-form and sectional roof ridge vents disclosed in the above referenced patents may function satisfactorily under certain circumstances, there is a need for an improved roof ridge vent which provides all the above stated advantages of a roll-form vent while being capable of being properly and readily installed with the use of a standard pneumatic nail gun. The nail line and adjacent area of the vent should be reinforced to prevent unwanted compression of the vent and prevent the head of a nail from being driven past the upper face of the vent. In addition, the vent should be capable of being manufactured efficiently and formed into a roll for shipping, transportation and subsequent installation.